The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
A recruiting fullcourt press
Anatomy of a ‘Fab’ official visit in Storrs, photo shoot
College basketball programs go about hosting the official visits of key recruits in a variety of ways.
The UConn men’s basketball coaching staff has turned it — quite literally — into an art form.
When the Huskies booked an official visit from Jaylin Stewart, a highly-coveted, 6-foot-7, Class of 2023 forward flying all the way in from Seattle, it seemed inevitable the staff would put on the so-called “fullcourt press” to get Stewart to commit.
Indeed, the Huskies imposed the kind of fiveman, fullcourt press that head coach Dan Hurley would love to see his team employ against the likes of Villanova and Creighton this season.
In an impressive display of foresight, mixed with some undeniable scheduling luck, UConn invited four other key 2023 recruits to visit the same weekend as Stewart on Sept. 9-11.
Stephon Castle, the 6-6, five-star guard, flew up from Georgia. He had committed to the Huskies 10 months earlier after the staff ’s prior recruiting “piece de resistance”, surprising Castle on his visit with a visit from his grandmother, whom he hadn’t seen in well over a year.
Solomon Ball, a 6-5, four-star guard, and Jayden Ross, a 6-7, four-star forward, both of whom had been prep teammates and had committed to the Huskies with a few days of each other over the summer, drove in from New Hampshire and New York, respectively.
And Youssouf Singare, a 7-foot, four-star center from Mali via New York who had yet to commit to UConn, drove in for an unofficial visit (Ball was on an unofficial, as well).
With conflicting schedules and other factors, it’s hard to get five recruits on campus at the same time. Even harder when some of them barely know each other and are arriving from all over the country. And even rarer in this day and age, when so many programs eschew high school talent, more content to recruit veteran players out of the transfer portal.
But while Hurley has certainly brought players in from the portal over the past few years, his heart remains in building a program mainly through talented high school recruits. And so the UConn staff, envisioning the Sept. 9-11 weekend as a potential spark to five great careers in Storrs, was able to give this group a chance to build their own connection. And it worked.
“On the visit, I felt like I knew them for a long time,” Ball noted. “We all had fun.”
The staff pulled out all the stops to get Stewart and Singare to commit. Stewart arrived on Friday, Sept. 9 and sat in on a UConn practice, followed later by Castle. On Saturday, Ball, Ross and Singare joined the fray, and the group would join the team’s current players at a UConn football game that night against Syracuse at Rentschler Field.
But there was one thing to take care of before that.
The UConn staff arranged for photos to be taken of the five players, a common practice on official visits. When the group entered Gampel Pavilion for the photo shoot, they saw an array of photos lined up of Michigan’s famed “Fab 5” freshman class of the early 1990s — Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson.
The group posed for photos mimicking those “Fab 5” photos from some 30 years earlier. In the most recognizable photo, Stewart sat sprawled out in the front, ball in hand, imitating Rose’s pose. Seated behind him, playing the role of Webber, was Singare. Ball stood next to him, a la Jackson, and Ross next to him, a la King.
And on the far left was Castle, seated just as Howard was in that earlier famous photo.
“That was the team’s (idea), Coach Luke (Murray), and it just came to life,” Ball reported. “We’ve got to have our own confidence that we’re just as good as the previous Fab 5. Just trying to bring one home.”
Only thing was, Stewart and Singare had yet to commit. Even as they posed for those photos, the staff had no idea whether the duo would pledge to the Huskies. They simply wanted to create an image of what could be.
“We tried to solidify and get them to commit by making a group and getting a brotherhood together,” Ball said. “We really had a good time over the football weekend. Although the game wasn’t good, we all had a good time … to the point that I thought they weren’t going to go anywhere else.”
Ball drove back up to Brewster Academy that Sunday.
“I thought right after the visit, when I got to talk to them and even during the visit, I thought that it would be the spot for them,” he said.
The following day, those “Fab 5” photos went viral on social media. UConn Twitter erupted in joy. The Huskies had their own “Fab 5”! (Not to be confused with their “Top 5” six years earlier). Surely, this meant that Stewart and Singare were committing ...?
Well, Singare still had a scheduled visit with Seton Hall later that week. In fact, he was originally supposed to visit Providence and Seton Hall before he went to UConn. But the staff contacted him and asked if he could make the UConn visit first.
“I had already told the other guys he was visiting, but the other guys said he can come whenever he wants,” said Andre Harrington, who serves as a sort of mentor to Singare. “Then I saw (UConn’s) plan, with the ‘Fab 5’ visiting, and I said, ‘I see what you guys are doing.’ ” Singare was still planning to visit Seton Hall and Providence, but the UConn coaching staff remained in close contact with him in phone calls, and came to watch him in open gym.
On Sept. 16, Stewart committed. Five days later, Singare did the same. UConn’s own “Fab 5,” the No. 3-ranked class of 2023, per 247Sports.com, was complete.
“At the end of the day, Youssouf made the decision on his own,” said Harrington. “I like for kids to see everything, do what they need to do before they make a decision. But the (UConn) coaches did what they were supposed to do, with the open visits. I think, ultimately, that’s why he made his decision.” It was.
“That was my decision, that’s nobody else’s decision,” Singare concurred. “I decided to go to UConn because I feel myself over there. That’s why.”
The feeling was mutual with at least one of his future teammates, on the heels of UConn’s latest official-visit coup.
“I felt like, building a relationship with Steph and building a relationship with Jaylin and Youssouf, that they would be a perfect fit for us,” said Ball.
A “fab” fit, if you will.